NCC advises consumers on short code for unsolicited messages

The Nigerian Telecommunication Commission (NCC) on Thursday advised consumers to take advantage of the 2442 shortcode to choose the type of messages they want to receive.

The Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, gave the advice at the 79th Telecom Consumers Parliament help in Abuja.

He said that the parliament, with its theme: Implementation of the `Do not Disturb’ (DND): the journey so far, was aimed at sensitising the public to the policy.

Danbatta said that the shortcode would go a long way to giving consumers the right to choose the messages they wanted to receive.

According to him, following the barrage of complaints on the menace of unsolicited messages, the commission swayed into action by mandating the activation of 2442 shortcode.

“The code will enable consumers to control the type of messages they receive.

“I am glad that it has come into effect and I urge all consumers to take advantage of this new regime by sending “stop to 2442’’ to avoid unsolicited messages,’’ he said.

Danbatta said the commission was aware that for the initiative to succeed, there was the need for massive public enlightenment by both regulator and the operating companies.

“It is in this regard that the theme of today’s parliament becomes relevant.

“The objective is to place the issue on the front burner of our discourse until unsolicited messages become a thing of the past,’’ he said.

Danbatta said the issue of consumer’s protection was very paramount to the commission, adding that consumers were kings in the marketplace.

To uphold the principle, he said that the commission had put in place various programmes to inform, educate and protect the consumers of telecom service.

Presenting a paper on the theme, Mr Ayoola Oke, a telecom consultant with NCC, called on operators to ensure full compliance with the 2442 shortcode.

Oke said that one major challenge of the policy was the lack of awareness, hence the need for both the regulators and the telecom operators to be involved in massive publicity.

He called for effective complaint management by the operators and network management to block spam and screen out malicious mails.

Responding to questions on an outright ban on unsolicited messages, Mrs Amina Shehu, Head of Legal, NCC, said the complete ban was not possible because of the e-commerce system.